Low birth weight is defined as a birth weight of less than 2,500 g. Low birth weight can be due either to preterm birth or to intrauterine growth restriction.

Worldwide, low birth weight babies represented 14.7% of all births in 2020, translating to 19.8 million births, or 1 in every 7 newborns (UNICEF, 2023; Okwaraji et al., 2024).

The reason why it is impossible, impractical or unsafe for patients for whom the specific food product is intended to consume exclusively foodstuffs (including fortified foods and food supplements) that are not FSMPs, and/or the reason(s) why such patients would have a nutritional or clinical disadvantage from consuming exclusively foodstuffs (including fortified foods and food supplements) that are not FSMPs (one or more of the reasons below may apply) are specified below:

Inability (or reduced ability) to:

a) chew and/or swallow foodstuffs that are not FSMPs

b) digest foodstuffs that are not FSMPs

c) absorb nutrients contained in foodstuffs that are not FSMPs

d) metabolize and/or utilize nutrients contained in foodstuffs that are not FSMPs

e) excrete nutrients contained in foodstuff that are not FSMPs, and/or their metabolites